Surviving Retail During The Holidays

photo via

Anyone out there work retail? I do! The holidays can be really tough for people in retail. A lot of the time you have to work more hours at more extreme times. That takes a serious toll on your body. Not too mention your mental health! I have a few tips to get through. These are things that have helped me and some of the people I work with. 

1. Leave work at work 

I have to admit that this is not easy for me. As a matter of fact it is really hard! Everyone needs to vent so get that out. Vent and be done with it. Better yet vent to someone while you are at work. You will be glad that you didn't bring the negative energy home. 

2. Wear old lady shoes 

Wear some seriously comfortable shoes. I am talking support, high quality and orthopedic. HA! Just kidding about the orthopedic. Sort of These are a pair that I have. I wear them a lot. If your feet are hurting then your shift will seem about a million times longer.

3. Compression socks

I know that this sounds crazy. I sound like a little old lady. But little old ladies know whats up! Compression socks are amazing. It is crazy the difference they can make. They help you feet and legs feel supported. Plus now you can get rad styles! Get some. You will be happy you did. 

4. Keep up mostly on housework

Notice that I typed keep up MOSTLY on your housework. I am not saying that you have to kill yourself off keeping your house clean. Just spend a few minutes a day on household chores. This is one that I need to work on! The idea is that that way you can enjoy your day off instead of feeling like you have to scrub your house. I find it much easier to relax in a mostly clean house. We can all use a little relaxation.

5. Do something nice for yourself

 Between working, shopping, baking and all the other hoopla that comes with the holidays it is easy to forget to take care of yourself. Get a massage, play candy crush, crochet, go for a walk, zone out! Whatever it is- do something that is just for you. Relish it! Love it! Do it! If you don't feel your best then you won't be your best. 

6. Do Holiday crap

Working retail can kill your love of anything holiday oriented. You might not want to decorate. You may dread the thought of putting up a tree. Do it anyway. Doing those things will make you happy. I swear! Make the best gingerbread house ever! Go to parties and wear you snappiest outfit. Wear sequins and a horrible christmas sweater. Just do it. Enjoy every moment of that Christmas movie marathon. You will not regret it!

7. Take care of yourself

Last but not least! Take care of yourself. This has got to be the hardest one for me. Eat healthy and exercise. UGH. It is annoying me to even type that. It is the truth though! If you eat healthy you are less likely to get sick. Being sick sucks. However, it is hard to eat healthy at this time of year. There are so many goodies being shared. You know how many days we have had treats on the break room table so far this month? Like everyday. Try sharing a healthy snack like oranges or pomegranate seeds. Another suggestion is to only eat the things that sound really good to you. As well as eating healthy food- exercising helps your body and mind. I try to do a little yoga everyday. It helps me decompress and de-stress. I love it. Do whatever exercise you prefer. It is hard to get started but it feels so good once you are done.   

Quick Easy DIY Christmas Bow Hair Pretties and Matching Necklace for Christmas

 Looking for a quick easy way to feel more festive? How about a gift that is inexpensive and fun for all ages? 

Check this out!

You will need:
 Hair clips (we used some ribbon lined alligators we happened to have)
bails
ball chains
glue gun 
glue sticks for the gun
tiny christmas bows
modge podge sealer
buttons with a flat back

Spray the bows with 4 to 5 coats of sealer so that they will be safe to be in the weather etc. 

 Glue the bail to the back of your flat button. (please forgive the blurry pics. I have no idea what was wrong with my camera but it did not want to take a nice picture this button and bail. These are the best I could get. Boo.

Finally glue one bow to the hair clips and one bow to the button. String the ball chain through the loop in the bail. 

ALL DONE!! 

Need some bails??

GO here!

LOVES

Emily

Link it up!

The weekend is here! We have some fun Christmasy plans for the weekend. I love Christmas plans. Christmas crafts and destinations are all part of the plans. If I can remember to take pictures I will do a little post next week and share. To kick off this weekend right I put together a little link list for your enjoyment. Check them out!

We are doing a gingerbread house this weekend. I got wise and bought a pre made one this year. We bought that Wilton one. I have seen them at both target and walmart. Last years train ended up being a real lesson in patience for me! It wasn't pretty. Or if you like you can always bake your own gingerbread!

If I wasn't already making pom pom embellishments for my gifts this year I would crank out a ton of paper bows! They look pretty simple and cute.

My niece is crazy talented and she created two free Christmas themed printables for you to enjoy.

I made some green chile pork verde earlier this week and it was awesome!

Have you heard of The Fictionist? They are a totally rad band from Utah. Lock and Key is one of my favorite songs of theirs. Click the link to check out the music video!

This citrus on black print from Angela Hardison is lovely. It is modern and fun. It would be a great addition to your kitchen. Or my kitchen. Any kitchen.

I love this post about taking the leap into working for yourself. It is a realistic check list of what you may want to accomplish before putting your two weeks in.

I have always wanted to try my hand at making Pad Thai.

Like a lot of people winter is murder on my skin and lips. I think natural lip balm would be an awesome solution for that. Well for the lips anyway. The berry's would add just enough pretty color and the coconut oil will be super moisturizing.

What are your plans this weekend? I hope it is a good one!

Peace Out- AnneMarie

FREE Christmas Printable (and a bonus printable!!)

This is my Gabrielle Lily or Gabby for short (which is fitting because she is super short LOL!)   She is a wonderful girl that I feel humbled to be the mother to. In her 14 years she has accomplished more than some twice her age and I am so thankful to have her be a part of my life! She is the creator of the printables on our little blog. She graciously lets me give her ideas and she lets me "work" with her but really she does the hard parts and I am amazed by her!! She is working on building a printable business on etsy and has even had some sales!! WOW! Please accept the gift we offer you this Christmas in these free printables and if you are so inclined when she expands her printable business come and take a gander. You can bet I will be shouting it from the roof tops so you won't really have to worry about missing it. LOL!

In the mean time feel free to download and print these (in the size you desire) for your personal use whether it be for decor or to give in a frame etc. (please only for personal use. Thanks!)

Click Here to Download The Elf Code
Click Here to Download Come Let Us Adore Him

Crock Pot Pork Chile Verde

Did you have a happy Thanksgiving weekend friends? Mine was excellent! Lots of family time and lots of good food! Emily hosted our huge family thanksgiving meal this year and it was lovely. Smoked turkey? Um yes please. I also may have eaten an entire pumpkin pecan pie by myself. No shame. By Sunday I was over eating thanksgiving food though. That is where this recipe comes in. So if you are sick of turkey and mashed potato left overs check it out.

Pork Chile Verde 

4 pound pork picnic shoulder roast

2 onions, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, minced

4-8 serano chiles

1-2 bunches of cilantro

8-10 tomatillos

2 red tomatoes

Put roast, chopped onion and garlic in a 4 quart crock pot. Cook pork roast in a crock pot on low for about 8 hours or until it is easily shredded. Shred it all up and pour most of juices off. Steam tomatillos and serano chiles until slightly cooked. Blend tomatillos, serano chiles, cilantro and red tomatoes until liquified. Pour over shredded pork and enjoy!

We ate it on corn tortillas with some sour cream and queso fresco. The queso fresco is pretty salty so we don't add salt to our chile verde. Without a salty cheese the chile verde will probably need a little salt. We made this for 7 people and wanted leftovers so thats why we used so much meat. You can easily halve this. We were feeding people who don't enjoy spice so we only used 4 serano chiles. If we were making it just for us we would put at least 8 seranos in. Also I used 2 bunches of cilantro because we love it. This is one of my favorite crock pot recipes. It is delicious.